Duncan Matthew James Inglis (born 7 April 1978),[1] known as Duncan James, is an English singer, actor and television presenter. He is best known as a member of the boyband Blue from 2000 to 2005 and again from 2009 following their reformation.

In early 2000, James, along with Antony Costa, convinced Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe to form the group Blue.[6] Blue's R&B-influenced pop allowed the group to achieve commercial success in the United Kingdom and many other countries, including Ireland, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, France, Australia and New Zealand. The band released their debut single "All Rise" in May 2001 and it reached No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart. Their follow up single, "Too Close", was released in August 2001 peaking at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart. They went on to achieve a second number one in November with the ballad "If You Come Back". The album All Rise was released in time for Christmas and reached number one, eventually selling in excess of 1.8 million albums in the UK. The final single from the album, "Fly By II", reached No. 6 in March 2002.

Their second studio album, One Love was released in October 2002, entering at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart and selling more than 150,000 copies. Three singles were released from the album: "One Love", which peaked at No. 3, "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word", featuring vocals from Elton John, which peaked at No. 1, and "U Make Me Wanna", which peaked at #4.[7] Their third studio album, Guilty, was released in autumn 2003, entering at No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart and selling 100,000 copies on the week of release. The album spawned four singles, including "Guilty", which peaked at No. 2, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours", featuring vocals from Stevie Wonder and Angie Stone, which peaked at No. 11, "Breathe Easy", which peaked at No. 4, and "Bubblin'", which peaked at No. 9.[citation needed]

Following the release of Best of Blue, includes three tracks only previously in Japan: "The Gift", "It's Alright" and "Elements". By the indication of the album booklet, a live version of "Lonely This Christmas" from CD:UK was intended to be track seven on the album, however, was removed from the tracklisting for unknown reasons. The album was released in July 2005, becoming available in several European countries, as well as Japan, Thailand[8] and China, however, was a commercial failure and failed to chart anywhere. The album was not released in the UK, despite copies being widely available.[why?][citation needed]

He returned to the solo music scene in May 2006 with his single "Sooner or Later", releasing the video in early May and planning to release the single commercially on 5 June 2006. The video reached No. 2 on The Box and No. 5 on The Hits. However, the single was no commercial success and entered the British charts at No. 35, before slipping down to No. 72 in its second week. "Can't Stop a River" was James's next single. Released on 21 August 2006, the track would only reach No. 59 in the UK and No. 97 in Ireland. In continental Europe, where "Can't Stop a River" was released the day prior to the UK, it similarly proved unpopular, dropping out of the singles charts in many countries such as France, Turkey, Germany, and Belgium. James' album also fell short, selling less than 1,000 copies in the UK in its first week (and failing to reach the Top 50). The album sold a total of 412,350 copies around the world. Although his debut album did not do as well as hoped (except in Italy, where it reached No. 2 on the chart and was certified as platinum for shipments of 80,000 copies), on 2 February 2007, music channel B4 premièred the video for "Amazed", his new single which was scheduled to be released 12 March 2007. However, there was once again a lack of interest. The release was cancelled and James was dropped from his recording contract. He has since announced he has quit his solo career. In 2007, James appeared in the West End production of Chicago.[9] He completed ten more weeks in Chicago from 10 December 2007 until 9 February 2008.[10] He appeared in an episode of The Bill called "The Morning After", which aired on 1 January 2009. It was confirmed in February 2009 that James had been selected to replace Denise Van Outen as presenter of Grease: the School Musical, the sequel to Hairspray: The School Musical. Filming commenced in early 2009. In May 2009, James announced the UK's voting in the Eurovision Song Contest. He presented Hannah-Oke on Disney Channel UK, a singing dancing contest based on the popular Disney TV series Hannah Montana. He also appeared on Celebrity Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old? and raised £10,000 for his charities. In 2006, James appeared with the other members of the boyband Blue on 26 June episode of Ministry of Mayhem, where James and the other band members were all hypnotised by UK stage hypnotist David Days.[11]

The band represented the UK at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf with the song "I Can" coming in 11th place with 100 points. Blue released their fourth studio album, Roulette on 25 January 2013 with "Hurt Lovers" as the lead single. On 21 February 2013, it was confirmed that the group would be joining The Big Reunion in which six groups from the past reform for a one off gig including Liberty X, Atomic Kitten and 5ive. Effective May 2013, the group will tour Great Britain and Ireland with the other groups in The Big Reunion concert series.[18] On 27 March 2013, the group announced they would embark on their first headlining tour later on in the year, their first tour in nearly ten years.

He has a daughter named Tianie Finn by former girlfriend Claire Grainger. He defined himself as bisexual in an interview with the News of the World on 12 July 2009,[3][4][19] although in 2013 interviews identified himself as gay.[20]